Sarah Mullally, the present Church of England bishop of London, was appointed the first-ever female archbishop of Canterbury on October 3, 2025. This means that Mullally will be the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Mullally, 63, was ordained in 2001 after having worked as the Chief Nursing Officer for England in the Department of Health, having previously been a cancer nurse. In 2015, she became the fourth woman to be named a bishop in the Church of England, and was the suffragan bishop of Crediton in the Diocese of Exeter.
On May 12, 2018, Mullally was installed as the 133rd bishop of London, and was the first-ever woman to hold that role.
In a statement published by the Archdiocese of Canterbury, Mullally reflected on her faith and her transition to her new role as archbishop.
“As I respond to the call of Christ to this new ministry, I do so in the same spirit of service to God and to others that has motivated me since I first came to faith as a teenager," she said.
In both her nursing and ministerial careers, Mullally said she has "learned to listen deeply – to people and to God’s gentle prompting – to seek to bring people together to find hope and healing."
“I want, very simply, to encourage the Church to continue to grow in confidence in the Gospel, to speak of the love that we find in Jesus Christ and for it to shape our actions," she said, adding, "And I look forward to sharing this journey of faith with the millions of people serving God and their communities in parishes all over the country and across the global Anglican Communion."
“I know this is a huge responsibility but I approach it with a sense of peace and trust in God to carry me as He always has," she said.
What is the significance of the Archbishop of Canterbury?
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the "most senior bishop in the Church of England," says the archdiocese's website. The archbishop has "many roles," including serving as the "Diocesan Bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan, as well as primus inter pares – or first among equals – of the Primates of the global Anglican Communion."
The Church of England, which was founded in 1534 after King Henry VIII separated the churches in England from papal authority, is the state religion in England.
The Anglican Communion is a global network of various national and self-governing churches that have communion with the archbishop of Canterbury. In the United States, the Episcopal Church of the United States is a member of the Anglican Communion.
Worldwide, there are about 85 million people belonging to the various churches in the Anglican Communion.
Mullally's predecessor worked with Pope Francis
Mullally replaces Archbishop Justin Welby. Welby resigned in 2024 following a report that accused him of not following up on abuse allegations. Welby himself was not accused of abuse.
Despite the contentious history between the Catholic Church and the Church of England, in modern times Welby and Pope Francis worked together on many occasions on issues of mutual concern.
Archbishop Welby joined with Pope Francis and leaders of other faiths in a joint declaration that they would work together aiming to end modern slavery by 2020.
The following year, Welby, Francis, and Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, issued a joint declaration to address together the urgency of environmental sustainability.
And in 2023, Welby, Pope Francis, and a moderator from the Church of Scotland made a joint visit to the tormented region of South Sudan.
